Thursday….Catacombs

The kids have been good sports. Really…walking close to 20 miles since they have been in Rome, we decided to sleep in on Thursday. And we did….we prepared our kitchen with breakfast foods the night before so we made prosciutto, egg and cheese paninis for breakfast/lunch(there was a panini press in the flat) and headed out around 1pm. We walked to the Colosseum and the line was unforgiving….so we changed our itinerary a bit and started heading to the catacombs. The mood around the city wasn’t hugely different, but these posters were everywhere, saying a world of sorrow for the change that is forthcoming.

Last day of Pope Benedict XVI

We walked to the catacombs. A one hour walk. Over 4 miles. Being a family of 5 has proven to be challenging in areas of small european taxis, hotel rooms, sitting in airplanes…being split up into 3 and 2…..we are a large family for european and traveling standards.

Walking to the catacombs….reaching the out skirts of the inner city.

Large cacti alongside the road….along with the palm trees scattered among the city, shows the mediterranean atmosphere.

Finally….reaching the catacombs.

No cameras allowed inside….so here it is….our only proof we went, well we have the receipt…nothing is free.

Cameras weren’t allowed inside. It was a slightly creepy experience. Cold, underground tombs, tunnels, earthy smells and quite damp. Our tour lady spoke broken english with an italian tongue so we really couldn’t understand very much. We learned that burials like these had to be outside the city, so that helped explain our LONG flipping walk to experience this. Now our long walk back.

Cobblestone highway of near death.

Italian Biker….must be wearing a cup…these cobblestones are brutal!

Highway to hell.

So, we chose a different path on our walk home. Looking at your phone and the maps it seems like you are walking alongside a park, peaceful. But no, this turned out to be an experience that will forever haunt our nightmares. We walked at least 1 mile on a cobblestone highway of buses and fiats, bikes and vans, going too fast for cobblestones and mere inches from our elbows. We walked past a bus stop and  polizi so we weren’t in the wrong, but weren’t walking with the masses either….SINGLE FILE WITH SOMETIMES NO BREAKDOWN LANE. We understood that the catacombs might be where we headed back to…..

P.S.

Tight Italian Road-Rome

Greg gave a pic from his collection…

So, dinner…..what else….pasta! And we had the best fresh fried potato chips ever…..”chips” never tasted so good!